Anime

Two posts with a title that contains Yuri on Ice in some form. I wonder if I can stretch it even farther.

BUT!

Rejoice, my fellow clansmen! Citrus has arrived and it’s straight up yuri. It’s got Ayana Taketatsu voicing our peppy pseudo-gyaru Aihara Yuzu. And Mei is voiced by Minami Tsuda, who notably has starred in Yuruyuri. Really, if it weren’t for the obvious marketing for the show (and the super spoiler that is the OP) and art style I would have been able to go into this blind and have an even bigger reaction to the very first hint of the yuri seven minutes in.

Not much to go on as of this episode. Other than noticing that Yuzu’s mother seems to be pretty strong since she handily lifted a box that Yuzu had trouble getting off the ground, even though they both seemed to have similar body frame and size. I suppose one could say she’s a strong and independent woman… WHO DON’T NEED NO-

The teacher isn’t given much of an introduction. The beginning is already pinning him as a target for our disgust. It’s a bummer because again, plot-wise it seems too much like rote and routine just so we can get our yuri on. (I ain’t complaining.)

I am heavily breathing in anticipation of the next episode already. I don’t think I really need to try and convince others to watch. It’s yuri, and those who desire it shall find and bask in its glory.

That feel and surprise when you discover an interesting anime, but you want to keep it to yourself so that you can enjoy it in solitude. I’m kidding, of course.

Name of the game is Sora Yori mo Tooi Basho, and it’s an anime original. I really am hyped for this show simply because there’s no source to refer to. It’s annoying to visit discussion threads and have to watch out for that kind of thing. I stumbled upon a good word for those kinds of people thanks to Reddit: sourcerers.

In addition to the art being fairly good, having plenty of decent angle work and actual character acting, the seiyuu list is fucking stacked. I really shouldn’t be aiming to watch a show solely for the idea of who’s voicing what character, but when a highly relevant-to-my-interests show hires a giant A-team, I’m going to watch it.

I’m particularly fond of Iguchi Yuka voice. I recently re-watched Yama no Susume after hearing about the incoming 3rd season. Her character only made a few appearances at the moment and had one line at the end of the first episode, but it was enough for me to want the next episode already.

I also have Overlord S2 to watch already. And I thought I’d at least have a break from watching anime to write stuff. Guess not.

Yeah. I finally got sick of the blue background and shit. There was so much that wasn’t really working or felt clean enough. So I decided to switch to a simple wordpress theme for now. Thanks for any human eyes looking at this. Writing is still kinda fun, and hopefully my words are interesting enough for others to read. Hard to tell.

I’m gonna go back to playing FFXIV. And Warframe. And PSO2. And Path of Exile.

I play too many games.

Almost forgot to mention this is merely a status update. Articles will have to be pruned, and new ones might be coming simply because there’s always new anime to watch.

I don’t know how people in r/anime already forgot to stop doing manga and light novel comparisons when watching an adaption. Aside from preferences and stated opinions, what is and isn’t a show doesn’t need to be based on visual anything, which is the current popular thing to decry. You lambaste shows with differing designs compared to light novel (or manga) art. Of course it’s going to look better, it doesn’t have to be animated. I don’t know if it was obvious the anime wasn’t going to look like the light novel’s art. You’d be daft to expect a studio to emulate that kind of detail. Clearly a divide was inevitable for those who had been following the source materials before Youjo Senki was adapated. We just have to wait until they leave. Although I think we’ll have the misfortune of having them stick around because they’ll watch it because “it’s so good!”. What a crock of shit. The remarks about not liking Visha’s design solely on personal preference is fine. It’s the ones that say “〈blank〉’s design is so much better in the LN/manga!” that need to go. It has no weight when judging a show on it’s own merit.

There’s one failing that I do agree with; the first Mr. Enemy Bad Man to show up was obviously going to die. While his character design is almost awkward enough to land a minor arc in something like One Piece, this show isn’t One Piece. One Piece’s overall art is wonky to begin with.

I don’t know how many times I’m going to have to repeat the “Stop Comparing it Against the Source Material” mantra thing every season. Someone else wrote a wordy thing with the same spirit as my commentary on that. I’m definitely not alone on this.

This show is seriously everything I enjoy about anime. I see it as a mish-mash between FLCL and Sailor Moon. With added LSD, grit, ham and a handful of fabulousness that just leaves me unsatisfied just enough that I’m already hurting for the next episode. FUCK. I REALLY enjoy this show.

There’s also tons of excellent animation.

Does this mean that you should watch this show? Well, that’s where it gets hard to say. As much as I’d like to beat it over your head that you should be watching it instead of reading this, it feels like you have to enjoy this kind of thing from the get-go. FLCL is relatively polarizing, but so much of the vibes I’m getting Flip Flappers seems to be sharing the same themes and visual oomph. I’ll have to leave the plot and story analysis for later, if not to others who’d do a far better job of that than me.

Parts of it, if it isn’t apparent, is the mahou shoujo element that is reminiscent of Sailor Moon and their contemporaries. I’m not as much of an avid watcher of that genre, my experience feels like it’s limited. My finished watches include Madoka, uta~kata, Umi Monogatari, Is This A Zombie? (masou shoujo. whatever. technicalities.). I’ve seen more than that, but not enough to feel like I can say that I watch mahou shoujo. With that said, it’s partial evidence that one doesn’t need to like the genre just to watch Flip Flappers.

.. Who am I kidding? Do the two episode test. The vision of this show is very stable and laser focused so far, you’d be hard pressed to say – even after a plot twist – that the show doesn’t follow through with it’s starting inertia.